ACTION PLAN so far.....

Date	Task	Completed? Any notes?
17th December	To have completed all of my research, planning, questionnaires, mood board, font ideas, decided on name, image editing, layout plans and colour schemes	most completed, except the image editing, layout plans and colour schemes. For next time I need to work quicker. I will complete any leftover tasks over the Christmas holidays
21ST December	To have completed mock photo-shoot, draft ideas on blog
24th February	To have completed my draft magazine along with real photo-shoot, feedback and how I will change my draft to the real magazine
24TH March	To have edited all photos and nearly finished magazine cover, contents and double page spread
10th April	To have completed my magazine and all 7 evaluation questions, check blog if any changes are needed

Survey says.........What is your favourite band?

For question number 6 I asked 'What is your favourite band?', this is because I wanted to
 see what people liked and to see what kind of artist/s I could replicate in my magazine.
The responses were

• Paramore
• MUSE
• All Time Low
• Coldplay
• Delamitri
• JLS
• Lorde
• MS MR
• Marina and the diamonds

The majority of these Bands/ artists fit into my genre of rock/alternative/indie except perhaps JLS, So I will try to base my made up on artists on the style of music these bands/ artists do.

Survey says........What would you expect to pay for a music magazine?

For question 5 I asked ' What would you expect to pay for a music magazine?' this is so I can get the correct price for my target audience, the cost of a magazine is crucial as something too expensive can put people off. For many readers, the cost is the most important part because you want to keep the price down yet still get value for money. 



From my results I can gather that most people want a magazine of around the £2+ mark, this is because they want a good price while still retaining quality. So I might price my magazine at around £2.50. 

Survey says.......Which music magazine are you most likely to buy?

For question 4 I asked 'Which music magazine are you most likely to buy?', this question allowed respondents to choose more than one response and to add suggestions to the 'other/comments' box, this was because some people might buy more than one type of magazine as their are so many on the market of all different genres.

Overall most people are most likely to buy 'Q' magazine which is an alternative/rock magazine. 6 people said they were most likely to purchase it. The second most popular answer was 'Top of the Pops' with 4 people saying they are most likely to buy it, this is probably because it is the most well known magazine in the UK because it is from the BBC and it used to be  a television series depicting popular music live acts.  The third most popular answer was KERRANG and billboard magazines, with 3 responses each, it is obvious that most people prefer rock or pop. In the comment box one respondent added the suggestion of 'rolling stone' magazine, which is a rock magazine I'm really glad they mentioned this because it is valid to my prefered genre. The least popular answers with only one response  each were for NME and VIBE magazine, this is probably because NME isnt as well known in the  UK as other brands and VIBE is an R'&'B magazine which, by my previous question, isnt the most popular genre. Overall I think I will look to magazines like 'Q' and 'KERRANG' as they fit in with my chosen genre of rock/alternative/indie and the public seem to like them.

Survey says.......What is your favourite genre of music?

For question 3 I asked 'what is your favourite genre of music?', this is because I want to see what the public want the most and which genre I should stick to.

As you can see the most popular genres were Rock, Pop and alternative/indie. This means that I will stick to the genre of rock/alternative/indie as together it made 54% of the results. This genre means I can include both old and current music to yet again broaden my audience. Overall I am not surprised with my results as the majority of the people I asked were teenageers, and most teenagers prefer pop, rock or alternative/indie.

Survey says......What is your gender?

In question 2 I simply asked 'what is your gender?', again I used survey monkey for the data, but made my own chart on Microsoft word.

From my results I can gather that the majority of my respondents were female, although most of the people I asked were female. Out of the 13 respondents only 3 were male (23%). Overall I think I might make a magazine suitable for both sexes, this would be easier as I can broaden my target audience, also their isn't really a unisex magazine of this genre for this age group on the market.

Survey says ..........How old are you?

Wow, I actually got a fair few results, even if most of them were my friends or parents, but still...
Sorry if anyone answers the survey after 16/12/2013 as your results wont be counted. I published my survey online at surveymonkey.com as it could be shared via email or my blog, rather than just handing a bit of paper around and getting extremely confused.
 I decided to make my pie charts and graphs by transferring the data to Microsoft Excel than to Microsoft word so I could construct a graph/ pie chart, I did this as it shows that bit of extra effort rather than just print screening the graph of survey monkey.
How old are you?
My first question was 'how old are you?', this is because I wanted to see the age range of my respondees (is that even a word?) so I could tailor my magazine to the average.

 As you can see over half the people were 16 (56%), perhaps this was a little biased as most of my friends are 16. The average age is around 26, so this will be my older end my target audience. My target audience will be from around 16-26, this is because most of them will be in higher education, and their is not really a magazine out their of this genre for this specific target group.

Genre Research

Here I have researched my chosen genre of rock/alternative/indie magazines, I have displayed it on prezi as it is relatively easy to navigate and makes a change from just a boring word document.

KERRANG magazine analysis

Since I am sticking roughly to the rock genre I need to analyse a rock magazine. Kerrang is a good example because it portrays specific conventions of that genre.

Masthead
The masthead is in a bold red font and in capitols, this links with the bold rock genre of the magazine as it stands out. The smashed effect adds to the font by making it appear more unusual and alternative.
Central image
The central image covers most of the page as it highlights the main article, hence it's important, our eyes notice it straight away as the mode of address very direct, in the sense that they are all looking at the camera and one band member is pointing directly at the camera. The image is anchored to the headline
Headline
The headline is portrayed in the centre of the page as its anchored to the most important article, The font is in capitals to enhance importance and the white colour contrasts with the bands clothes.
Puffs
This cover has lots of puffs on it (yes I am trying not to laugh), they draw attention to certain areas of promotion and in this case, are placed on different shaped box outs so they stand alone and don't blend in , they use tag words like 'download' and 'amazing' to draw attention to it.
Cover lines
The cover lines are located around the edge of the magazine to allow the main image to shine through, they focus on other articles and use different presentational devices such as promotional language to make them stand out
Secondary images
These images are anchored to the cover lines to give them purpose, they are alot smaller than the main image as they are less important but they are edited into different shaped such as circles to keep them apart from the main article
Pugs
The pugs are located at the bottom of the magazine and display the price and bar code, they keep out of the way and are relatively hidden to allow the other articled to shine through. Perhaps this is because they want you to read the 'amazing' magazine and go to purchase it before you even acknowledge the price.

Magazine Font testing

Here I have analysed and tested fonts for my masthead, I have tested them with the title 'BASSLINE', I probably wont go for this name as it suits the R&B genre more. I have sourced my fonts from dafonts.com which is a great resource for collecting fonts of different styles and genres. I have first created a moodboard which shows an example masthead title is the fonts I like.

I have chosen fonts that fit in with the theme of alternative/ indie/ rock as they are quite bold but still quirky and unusual.

I like this font because it has a vintage, rocky edge to it, it's bold, fun and unusual. However it is quite 'busy', therefore it will be hard to edit by adding colour.

This font is very similar to 'cast iron' in terms of the style, exept it looks more natural and handwritten, giving it an almost tattoo like feel (hence the name), yet again it will be hard to edit or enlarge it .

This font is very clear and bold, so the masthead will be easily visable, it is a little too formal as I want my magazine to be friendly and more relaxed.

This font is really unusual as the 'break' in it adds another unusual dimension, its nicely rounded in shap so it dosen't look too formal.

I really like his font because its clear, bold and easy to edit, its also quite modern thus it will link to the modern images my magazine will include.